The gamin in his perfect state possesses all the policemen of Paris, and can always put the name to the face of any one which he chances to meet.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Now he was tall of his person and comely and pleasant of favour and very engaging and agreeable of manners and a man in the prime of life; wherefore the lady had several times cast her eyes on him and found him much to her liking, and her desires being already aroused for the Marquis, who was to have come to lie with her, she had taken a mind to him.
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio

And, indeed, it is very necessary, at the entrance into such an inquiry as our present, to make this point as clear as possible; for if taste has no fixed principles, if the imagination is not affected according to some invariable and certain laws, our labor is likely to be employed to very little purpose; as it must be judged an useless, if not an absurd undertaking, to lay down rules for caprice, and to set up for a legislator of whims and fancies.
— from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Edmund Burke

A rush of steam through pipe A creates a partial vacuum in the cone E , causing air from the train pipe to rush into it and be expelled by the steam blast.
— from How it Works Dealing in simple language with steam, electricity, light, heat, sound, hydraulics, optics, etc., and with their applications to apparatus in common use by Archibald Williams

We then crossed the stream where we found it passable, and came among a world of vines of incredible number, which towards the earth had firm stocks and of a good growth; but the tops of them were women, from the hip upwards, having all their proportion perfect and complete; as painters picture out Daphne, who was turned into a tree when she was overtaken by Apollo; at their fingers' ends sprung out branches full of grapes, and the hair of their heads was nothing else but winding wires and leaves, and clusters of grapes.
— from Lucian's True History by of Samosata Lucian

They were pleased with its situation on the confines of Persis, and with the importance of the city; besides the consideration that it had never of itself undertaken any great enterprise, had always been in subjection to other people, and constituted a part of a greater body, except, perhaps, anciently in the heroic times.
— from The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3) Literally Translated, with Notes by Strabo

The Samuel Josephs fought fearfully for the prizes and cheated and pinched one another's arms—they were all expert pinchers.
— from The Garden Party, and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield

The Emperors Strategy The Emperor bore malice toward Chang T’ien-shih, the Master of the Taoists, because he refused to pay the Page 244 taxes on his property, and conceived a plan to bring about his destruction.
— from Myths and Legends of China by E. T. C. (Edward Theodore Chalmers) Werner

In my native country, in the bosom of my religion, family and friends, I should have passed a calm and peaceful life, in the uniformity of a pleasing occupation, and among connections dear to my heart.
— from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau — Complete by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

2. The habitual order of march will be, wherever practicable, by four roads, as nearly parallel as possible, and converging at points hereafter to be indicated in orders.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. (William Tecumseh) Sherman

Both men started violently, with good excuse, for before them stood Captain Dick Prescott, a cocked automatic pistol held out to cover both.
— from Uncle Sam's Boys with Pershing's Troops Or, Dick Prescott at Grips with the Boche by H. Irving (Harrie Irving) Hancock

Make patient as comfortable as possible.
— from The Mary Frances First Aid Book With Ready Reference List of Ordinary Accidents and Illnesses, and Approved Home Remedies by Jane Eayre Fryer

He remembered him a baby, prattling and crawling, and playing like any other baby; and despite himself--for there was nothing noble or brave in the man--he stepped forward and interposed between Simon and his victim.
— from A Little Wizard by Stanley John Weyman

The two first chapters will, I think, be pretty good, on the great gravel terraces and plains of Patagonia and Chili and Peru.
— from More Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 2 A Record of His Work in a Series of Hitherto Unpublished Letters by Charles Darwin

Chant in a wail that never halts, pace a circle and pay tribute with a song.
— from Sea Garden by H. D. (Hilda Doolittle)

I believe that he was seduced by his vanity, that his head was turned by emperors, kings, and congresses, and that he was resolved that the country which he represented should play as conspicuous a part as any other in the political dramas which were acted on the Continent.
— from The Greville Memoirs, Part 1 (of 3), Volume 1 (of 3) A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IV by Charles Greville

14 I have re-translated the passage as closely as possible, although perfectly aware of its being neither a faithful French rendering nor even a passably brilliant paraphrase of the original in Henry VIII.
— from Anecdotal Recollections of the Congress of Vienna by La Garde-Chambonas, Auguste Louis Charles, Comte de